A small town in Germany is currently trying to prevent neo-Nazis from buying a hotel in the town center. But is it just a ploy? The right-wingers stand accused of threatening to buy property only to profit from the resulting furor. The police presence providing security for the city-council meeting was intense. Outside, the neo-Nazis were waiting -- but so too were many of their enraged opponents. The small town of Kirchheim an der Weinstrasse, not far from the Rhine River in western Germany, had to decide earlier this summer whether it was going to cough up the dough necessary to buy a small, failing bar at the edge of town. Some 800 signatures from concerned citizens -- almost half the population -- had signed a petition urging it to do so. And it wasn't because the good citizens of Kirchheim an der Weinstrasse thought the town should go into the business of selling cocktails and beer. Rather, a group of neo-Nazis had offered to buy the down-at-the-heels establishment for ... http://service.spiegel.de

High water that closed the main corridor between the state's two largest cities dropped steadily Sunday, though weary emergency officials kept a close watch on forecasts calling for more rain. "We have reports all over the valley of the rivers and streams subsiding," said Clint Vardeman, a deputy director of emergency services. Roads and bridges were still under water, he said. The Parks Highway and the Alaska Railroad were closed between Anchorage and Fairbanks most of the day because of bridge damage and mud slides. The railroad reopened late Sunday and service was expected to return to normal by midnight, spokesman Tim Thompson said. High water forced at least 150 residents from their homes Saturday and sent campers and fishermen scurrying for high ground, officials said. ...http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/08/21/national/main1914771.shtml?source=RSS&attr=U.S._1914771

When the guns went silent in Aitta Shaab, a war-ravaged village close to the Israeli border, three children skipped through the rubble looking for a little fun.Hurdling over lumps of crushed concrete and dodging spikes of twisted metal, Sukna, Hassan and Merwa, aged 10 to 12, paused before a curious object. Sukna picked it up. The terrifying blast flung her to the ground, thrusting metal shards into her liver. Hassan's abdomen was cut open. Merwa was hit in the leg and arm. "We thought it was just a little ball," said Hassan with a hoarse whisper in the intensive care ward at Tyre's Jabal Amel hospital. In the next bed Sukna, a ventilator cupped to her mouth and a tangle of tubes from her arms, said even less.Her mother watched anxiously. "The Israelis wanted to defeat Hizbullah," said Najah Saleh, 40. "But what did these children ever do to them?"...http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,,1854625,00.html?gusrc=rss&feed=12

Israel has arrested almost one quarter of the members of the Palestinian parliament as part of its campaign to free an Israeli soldier captured on the Gaza border in June.Mahmoud Ramahi became the 33rd member of the legislative council (PLC) to be taken in by the Israelis during an operation yesterday. Amani Rahami, 36, said her husband had been avoiding home for fear the Israelis would arrest him, but did not realise he was important enough to warrant surveillance. "They came to arrest him many times but he was not here. This time they arrived minutes after he did. He is a father, an educated man and they take him away like a criminal. It is the Israelis who are criminals in this," she said.Mr Ramahi is an anaesthetist at a Jerusalem hospital and is considered a Hamas moderate who opposes violence. When he arrived at his home in Ramallah yesterday, a squad of Israeli soldiers in jeeps were waiting nearby. ...http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,,1855201,00.html?gusrc=rss&feed=12

Bush has announced that the US is to boost its aid package to Lebanon to $230m. The money would be used to help rebuild Lebanese homes & infrastructure. He also called for the quick deployment of a peacekeeping force for Lebanon. "The need is urgent," he said. The international community must designate the leadership of the force and give it a "robust mandate" as soon as possible, he said. Mr Bush said he hoped France would send more peacekeeping troops to Lebanon. Paris had been expected to provide the bulk of the troops for the force, but has so far offered only 200, saying it needed more information on the force's mandate. The US president said the US would do its part - giving help with logistical support, intelligence and command and control, although it is not contributing troops. I’m sure the Lebanese wouldn’t be tossing flowers at our troops if we were stupid enough to send them. Maybe they have no sense of humor, we did send them bombs and aid. ...http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/5271810.stm

At least 58 people have been killed and nearly 150 injured in Egypt in a collision between two rush-hour trains packed with commuters. A railway official said one train ploughed into another which had stopped just outside a station in Qalyoub, 20km (12 miles) from Cairo. Carriages were derailed and overturned, and one train was set ablaze. It is Egypt's deadliest rail accident since 2002 when a fire broke out on a train, killing more than 370 people. Health Minister Hatem al-Gabali, quoted by the official Mena news agency, said 58 people had died and more than 143 were injured. The trains were both travelling from the Nile Delta south towards Cairo, crowded with many passengers on their usual commute to work in the capital. ...http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/5269946.stm